I See You Watching Me
by Lacey Black
Summary: Hermione was sick of waiting for Ron to make a move and subsequently made a decision that later lost her her friends, and the respect of her house mates. Feeling alone and miserable she found a friend in the least likely of people. This story is complete.


I See You Watching Me

A Draco x Hermione romance

*I do not own the characters or settings and terminology otherwise used in the Harry Potter series*

Reader warning: scenes of a sexual nature, strong language and explicit content is present in this story. 18+ is advised

Chapter 1 – An Indecent Secret

Hermione drums her nails on the library table as she reads her herbology book. She again looks at the clock; it's half past 12 and Ginny was no where to be seen. She scowls to herself about the absent mindedness of her friend who was likely engaged in some sort of conversation with Dean. She was only slightly jealous of how it was so easy for some people to connect. Unlike a certain annoying red head she cared for.

With a sigh she begins to pack up her bags when she sees HIM out of the corner of her eye, Draco Malfoy, tucked back in the stacks snogging Pansy; a Slytherin girl. Hermione blushes deep red but curiosity has a hold on her and she stares at them. Malfoy has Pansy in quite the lewd position, his knee parting her thighs slightly his left hand playing with the hem of her skirts while his right is tangled in her hair while he kisses her deeply.

In a pause Malfoy notices Hermione watching them and he smirks as he begins to kiss the girl again making a point to look at Hermione while doing so. Pansy was obviously completely unaware of the look between her snogging partner and Hermione. Malfoy looks right at her as he then trails his hand along Pansy's bare thigh all the while continuing to kiss her.

"How barbaric" Hermione says under her breath. She is certain she is quite a crimson colour as she looks away and rushes from the room. She should think that kissing would be far more passionate, especially with a man like that. She thought this to herself as she made her way to her next class. Not that she'd ever think of snogging Malfoy, one of the nastiest people she'd ever met. Never in a million years.

She ignored the fact that she had to tell herself this repeatedly just now as she was walking into her 4th period classroom.

The day was long drawn out after that, lots of reading and writing notes. Her last class she shared with her two best friends Ron and Harry and also annoyingly with Malfoy. An unfortunate lack of equal Gryffindor and Slytherin students meant one Gryffindor was always pairing up with a Slytherin. Luckily she also shared this class with many of her good friends and they never made her, a muggle-born student, pair with a Slytherin.

Throughout class there was the usual tension between the students of the different houses. At the end of class Ron Weasley gently reminded her that class was over and to meet them in the common room before dinner, he knew she would want to finish her work there before heading back and didn't bother pestering her anymore after years of friendship. She smiled and nodded and watched him leave.

When, she wondered, would he get the balls to ask her out? It was so obvious to her that he liked her, and she was dropping hints like crazy! She returned to her page to finish her notes, she did want to finish quickly as she had become hungy.

Hermione had not noticed a certain Slytherin had returned and was watching her from the door way. Having finished she collected her belongings and stood to leave when she realized he was blocking her path.

"You make a better wall than door way, Malfoy." She snapped, hinting at her desire to leave the empty classroom.

"And you make a better Muggle then witch." He replied with an evil smirk.

"Oh just move why don't you," And she shoved at him with her shoulder but unlike their younger days he did not budge as easily as when she very near broke his nose in 3rd year.

"Tut tut tut, where are you off to so quickly?" He combed his fingers through his blonde hair and continued, "Did you enjoy the show this afternoon? I bet it was interesting to see how a real man touches a woman. That weasel hasn't even made a move on you yet, not surprised though maybe his family finally sees you lot for what you are, filthy mud-blood."

Hermione could feel tears coming and also rage and using her rage she stomped hard on his instep, so hard in fact it had him bend over slightly which gave her ample opportunity to attempt actually breaking that nose this time.

With a snap of his wrist he caught her fist and glaring darkly at her he hissed "you'll regret that Granger." And he stormed from the room. She did not miss the slight limp as he stormed out, she grinned proud she had at the very least injured him a bit.

She climbed the Gryffindor tower and went into her room. Dinner was in just under a couple hours so she sank happily into her bed, trying to push the memories of what had just transpired from her mind. She sighed happily as she slowly began drifting to sleep.

"_People will see us" Hermione whispered._

"_Let them, I don't care" He said huskily._

"_But this is so wrong"_

"_Isn't that why you're here?" He grinned against her lips._

_Malfoy had Hermione perched on a library table, he was kissing her exactly how deeply she imagined he'd kiss a girl. Passionately teasing her mouth with his tongue, making her moan with desire for more. He moved his lips to a particularly sensitive spot on her neck, while his one hand had ahold of her hair pulling her head to the side revealing her neck to his lips, while the other so gently grazed up and down her thigh sending chills through her._

"_This is such a bad idea, you are such a bad idea." She half heartedly insisted._

"_Isn't that what makes it more exciting, here in the middle of the night, anyone could find us." He huskily spoke into her ear, his breath hot and ragged with desire. He began to kiss down her neck and began slipping her shirt down slightly giving him access to the skin of her shoulder and just below her collar bone. His hand traveled slowly under her skirt where he grabbed her bottom roughly and pulled her hips against his. She moaned louder then before and to silence her, he captured her mouth in a passionate kiss that left her breathless. And then he began to shake her..._

Hermione was shook awake by Ginny who had a very concerned look on her face.

"Thank goodness, I was afraid I'd have to pour cold water on you!" She cried.

"You mean you were hoping to, right?" Hermione responded groggily.

"Were you having a nightmare? You seemed so restless! Dinner is in ten minutes by the way!" Ginny was darting around the room trying to find something to wear, she was always so concerned about what Harry would think of her outfits.

"Ten Minutes?! Bloody hell!" Hermione bolted out of bed and pulled on her cardigan.

She ran her fingers through her tangled mess of curls and the two girls ran down the stairs to meet the boys in the common room.

As they made their way to dinner all Hermione could think about was the fact that she had had that dream; again. Something must be wrong with her, normal people don't fantasize about their enemies.

Dinner was over quickly and everyone made their way back to the common rooms. It just so happened her friends were so concerned with their conversation with each other and hadn't noticed Hermione had been left out. She was trailing behind the group and soon they were far ahead giving Malfoy the opportunity to get to her without back up.

"Poor little sad girl, are your friends not talking to you tonight? Are they too busy with people more important?"

"Go away Malfoy" she said annoyed with his mere presence especially after another of her inappropriate dreams.

"Hit a never have I?" and he walked away laughing.

Over the next few weeks things began to be weird around the common room. People were whispering about things but when she asked them, her friends were very secretive about it. Even Ron wouldn't say a word to her about it, and he even seemed a bit more distant than normal. She had resolved to corner Harry, he could never lie to her, and he truly was her best friend. She asked him what everyone was talking about and why no one would talk to her lately.

"Look, I don't know much, but some people have been talking about how you have been lying about some things, and how one of those things is you and an older boy from last year, the one that dated Ginny. Basically that you went after him, when they were together. Thing is 'Mione, he said it was true when Ginny asked him. She told me she's not mad at him, because she's over him and expected nothing less, but she didn't say she wasn't mad at you," Harry was very visibly uncomfortable having had to explain all that to her and made moves to leave. "I believe you wouldn't, but it doesn't look good."

Hermione sighed and made her way to her room. No wonder Ginny had been sleeping elsewhere. It wasn't exactly untrue what they were saying; of course it wasn't exactly true either. Back then she hadn't known that Dean had been with Ginny, not when she had made a move on him at Hodsmeade Pub in a sad attempt to make Ron jealous. Ron hadn't seemed affected so Hermione apologized to Dean and asked him to forget it ever happened. It was less than a week later that she found out Ginny and Dean had been dating for a little over a month already. Instead of coming clean to her friend, afraid Ron would find out she was trying to make him jealous, she hid the secret hoping no one would ever find out.

Hermione curled up in a ball on her bed. She really was a rotten friend. She watched the clock as the minutes went into hours wishing she could turn back time for such an event but knew that would be wrong, besides Dumbledore had taken back her turner. It was a Saturday afternoon so she gathered her books and sought refuge from the stares and whispers in the library.

The day went by quickly as she was so absorbed in a wonderful muggle written book. She realized it was almost dinner and rushed from the library not watching where she was going as her nose was still in her book. This caused her to run into a tall figure who had also sought the library out as a safe haven from the rest of the world. The two dropped their books in a scattered mess and Hermione realized who it was.

"Malfoy, you read?"

"Don't act so shocked Granger; there is plenty you don't know about me. And apparently, plenty I don't know about you! I heard about you and the little Weasely girls' boyfriend last year. Didn't realize you had such a dark streak," He grabbed his last book and practically ran down the hall before they could say anything else.

Back in her room after dinner Hermione went for the book she was reading "Much Ado About Nothing" and realized she didn't have it. In its place was "To Kill A Mocking Bird" a favourite of hers from the Muggle world.

She was actually shocked that Malfoy was reading such an amazing piece of literature. She took the book and walked back to the library curious if he would return her book so she could get the book she was reading back. Low and behold he was sitting at a table just inside. She slid into a seat beside him, and placed his book between them. He returned her book and the two sat in silence for a moment.

"Thank you," They both said at once.

"That's one of my favourites," Hermione said quietly.

"Mine too, Atticus was a fantastic lawyer," Malfoy said excited but quickly recovered realizing who he was talking to. "Don't take my stuff again, Granger." And with that Malfoy stormed out of the library.

Chapter 2 – Solitude

Hermione had started getting used to being ignored day in and day out. it had been 3 weeks since she had spoken to Harry, and almost a month since Ginny had slept in their room. Hermione had noticed that her friend must have been coming in the day at some point to collect some of her belongings, as things were slowly disappearing from Ginny's section of the room. If not for the 2 other girls who shared their room, Hermione would stay all day waiting out her friend. She hated the distance and just wanted to talk to her.

The last three weeks Hermione spent all her spare time in the Library. She had noticed that Draco Malfoy was beginning to spend way more time there then she had ever seen before. She would catch herself watching him, he would usually get a book and hide out in the corner till an hour before dinner, when he would pull out his work and pretend he had been struggling with his homework when Crabbe and Goyle would come find him. He seemed so normal, sitting in the corner of the library reading to himself, that she started to forget that he was a Death Eater in training set to follow in his fathers footsteps quite soon.

After her last class of the day Hermione wandered towards the Library, stopping quickly in the Great Hall for an apple to bring with her. She was even skipping most meals lately and she had noticed that some of her clothes were a touch looser. Leaving the Great Hall she bumped into Ginny and a couple of her friends.

"Gin, can we talk, please?" Hermione begged her friend.

"I don't know, Hermione, wouldn't you rather go talk to Dean? Or do you only like guys who are currently taken, and bored once they are single?" Ginny gave her a look that could kill.

"Ginny, please will you just hear me out?" Hermione had tears in her eyes.

"No, I don't think I will, trollop." The girls with Ginny all giggled evilly and Ginny went into the Hall without a second glance. She heard the kids standing near by all laughing as well.

Hermione practically ran to the library, humiliated and miserable. She opened the door to the library and a hand shot out and grabbed the door out of her hands so that they could walk through seconds behind her. She turned and through blurry teary eyes she made out blonde hair and a tall stance. She prayed he would just leave her alone today, she truly couldn't handle any more animosity.

"You walk through the doorway, Granger, you don't stand in it," Malfoy grumbled obviously annoyed.

"I'm...Sorry..." Hermione sniffed and rushed to a table.

Malfoy passed by her while she was pulling her texts from her bag and when she placed them on the table she saw there was a soft cloth handkerchief on the table with the letter 'M' embroidered in elegant script. Her eyes found him across the room propped in a corner with a book. He seemed unaffected by the kind action, almost as if it hadn't happened, but Hermione was touched. Giving her head a shake she reminded herself that even if he had decent human being moments, he was still a Knob.

Hermione began doing her work despite it being a Friday, the assignment not being due till Monday but she wanted it out of the way so she could spend the weekend outside somewhere on the grounds reading her latest novel. She was lessons ahead in her classes with the way her social life had been lately. She was having a terrible time concentrating. Her eyes kept wandering to a certain Slytherin tucked away in the corner. She studied his pensive expression, his ankle propped on a chair in front of him, the way he held the book so as not to crease the spine. He wore a black dress shirt, one sleeve rolled up the other simply undone at the wrist and black jeans. His blonde hair no longer was slicked back with copious amounts of product, but was cut shorter then previous years and tousled in a sexy way. At one point she would have thought him to look out of place here in her place of solitude, but he seemed to fit in perfectly.

She was staring at him so intently that when he looked up they locked eyes. Hermione blushed and looked down at her text in the hopes he didn't realize she had been staring at him for so long. Her cheeks were burning as she tried to focus on the work in front of her. She started writing and before long she was 3/4 through her assignment. She hadnt noticed someone was now sitting at her table till she sat up to stretch.

"You know, you don't have to always be ahead of everyone, sometimes its not a bad thing to be a little unprepared," He raised a brow and smirked at her.

"I don't have anything else to do, if you hadn't noticed, I'm not exactly miss popular these days," Hermione sighed. "Thank you for the handkerchief, that was uncharacteristic of you."

"I'm not always a selfish prat. You don't actually know anything about me." Malfoy laughed.

"I know you've tormented me for years, called me a mud-blood, why the sudden change."

"Lets just say, I can relate to feeling the sting of rejection from Potter and his golden crew," He said absently.

That stung Hermione, she never thought about it from Malfoy's point of view. From day one Harry had made it abundantly clear he had zero interest in being Malfoy's friend. Though He had insulted Harry's newest friend Ron, it wasn't as if Harry didn't make comments about Malfoy about as often as Malfoy made comments about him.

"It's not just them, everyone hates me right now, the entire Gryffindor House. No one will listen to myside of the story."

"What is your side of the story Granger? Did Dean force you to hit on him?"

"No, it wasn't even like I meant it." She sighed. "It was all a show, a stupid attempt to make Ron jealous, but he didn't seem to care. I didn't even know Dean was with Ginny till a few days later when I begged Dean not to tell anyone."

"So what are you going to do about, you hardly seem like the type to roll over and play dead,"

"Nothing I can do, no one will talk to me, hear my side, and Dean is having fun playing it up as if it was way more then it was."

"Yes, the stories I've heard are somewhere along the lines of booking a room at the Three Broomsticks, and snogging in the stair wells." Malfoy raised his brow again. "But I didnt really think you had it in you, Granger, not by how you watched me and Pansy a few weeks back."

Hermione turned deep red. She looked at her text and pretended there was something of great importance to read there. "I didnt mean to, it jsut sort of happened." she glanced up hoping he believed her.

"Right..." He grinned. "Has watching me that past week been a coincidence too?"

Hermione's eyes widened, shocked he had known this whole time. She stammered something unrecognizable, collected her things and left the library abruptly. She took the handkerchief, determined to clean it and return it when she saw him next.

Harsh whispers spread through the school quickly and Hermione was becoming less and less concerned with it. she had come to the conclusion that if her friends didn't want to believe her, and they were resigned to casting her out and making her the joke of the school, then they really weren't her friends anyways. She wondered if maybe she had just been useful to the boys over the years, what with them always getting into trouble. She wasn't sure she had ever had a real friendship from any of them. She was far too smart for her own good, and there are people who would want to take advantage of that.

It was a beautiful saturday, so Hermione collected her things as well as some food and found herself sitting under a tree by the Black Lake on the school grounds edge near the Owlry. It was so peaceful here, she could see Hagrid's hut in the distance, hear birds singing in the forest across the way and a cool breeze blew her hair around gently. She was so absorbed in her book she hadn't realize how long she was out there before dark grey clouds had rolled in above her obstructing her view of her book. She packed her things away as quickly as she could and began the walk back to the castle. She hadn't gotten far before it started to pour heavily on her. Within minutes she was drenched and she ran inside the Owlry seeking cover. She turned around to see Malfoy petting his owl, he too was quite drenched, though she guessed it looked better on him then it did her at the given moment.

Her hair was plastered to her head and neck, and her clothes clung to her soaking wet body. she made feeble attempts to ring out her clothing but with no real success. She peered over at Malfoy who was delicately attentive to the little creature perched on his arm. He looked at Hermione, the two's eyes meeting as they gazed at each other. She wasnt sure what it was, the rain, his gentleness with the owl or his kindness to her lately but she was suddenly walking over to Malfoy. The bird flew away and Hermione grabbed Malfoy by his jacket collar pulling him down to her level. His shocked expression didn't stop her as it probably should have, she pressed her lips against his tentatively, waiting for his response.

*Kiss me back you prat* she thought to herself...

Chapter 3 – A Thousand Times

She pulled away, the shocked look on Malfoys face made Hermiones blood run cold. What. Had. She. Just. Done. She stared at him unable to move, unable to speak, unable to think. She began to back away slowly until her back hitting the wall of the Owlry. She was still staring at him, the shocked expression had melted into a one she couldn't read. They stood there looking into each others eyes across the room neither one saying a word, but the silence was almost deafening. Her mind was going a mile a minute, what was he going to do to her for that? He surely would not forgive her. He might never even talk to her again, may avoid the library all together. She didn't like the idea of that.

In a few quick strides he was across the room and directly in front of her. He looked into her eyes, held her face in his hands and kissed her. Her eyes fluttered closed, her arms wrapped around his middle pulling him closer. She parted her lips welcoming his tongue in, and Malfoy pushed her up the wall so she could wrap her legs around his middle. He kissed her so passionately that she could hardly breathe but she dared not break away to catch her breath; afraid they would come to their senses and forget this moment ever happened.

Malfoy teased her mouth and nipped at her lip and trailed opened mouth kisses down her neck to the top of her button up shirt. he opened her shirt, and released her bra in a quick effortless motion. He kissed her one breast while he massaged the other. Hermione drug her nails into his back and didn't even bother to suppress the moans that came forth. He pulled away to examine her body, her flushed face, her swollen lips from his passionate kisses. His mouth returned to hers and his hands gripped her bottom. A few more minutes like this and neither of them would be able to stop themselves. And She thought to herself that they both must have realized this at the same moment. they both pulled away and looked at each other. Malfoy gave her an appreciative look once again and set her down on her feet.

Breathing heavily, they both straightened their clothing and fixed their hair. She had no idea what had come over her, but she knew one thing: She definitely wanted that to happen again, as wrong as it may be. She blushed furiously watching him tuck his shirt back into his pants, getting a glimpse of his well sculpted abdominal muscles. When had the little blonde boy turned into this man in front of her?

"Like what you see Granger?" He smirked.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said stubbornly. "Malfoy" she made a point of saying his last name with emphasis. She turned on her heel and ran to the school.

A few days later she found herself in the Great Hall attempting to have lunch, but no one would let her sit down at the Gryffindor table. Humiliated again she took what food she could carry and left for the library. Malfoy was just leaving the Library, he caught her eye and motioned her to follow him. She knew she shouldn't, that this was a terrible idea. She was telling herself this as she followed him to the Room of Requirement. Inside the room was quite a mess but off to the side there was a couch, a fireplace and a tray full of food.

"Look, it wouldn't do either of us any good if anyone saw us talking." Malfoy explained. He sat down on the couch and motioned for her to sit too.

"What do you want to talk about Malfoy?" She crossed her arms across her chest and reluctantly sat at the farthest end of the couch away from Malfoy.

"Well, er..." He paused. "I want to make sure we aren't telling anyone about the other day."

"I don't have anyone to even tell, and even if i did, its the last thing I'd admit to anyone."

"Yes, well good then." He kicked the ground anxiously. "Hermione?"

"Yes?" She was surprised, She had never heard him say her name in the 6 years she had known him.

He looked at her, and she saw the muscles in his jaw flexing repeatedly.

"Oh bloody hell," He reached for her and pressed his lips against hers, gently at first, a question. it was as if he were asking permission.

Her hands were in his hair almost instantly. How could this man who was so mean, and rough be so tender? He pulled her to him, each sitting on the middle cushion of the couch, his hands gripped tightly on her waist, hers behind his neck and in his hair. The kisses deepened and became more desperate and he pulled her on top of him. She was in dangerous territory here, she hadn't even kissed someone, let alone straddle a boys lap and snog him breathlessly.

When he readjusted she felt just how aroused he was, and she suppressed the urge to grind into it. He laid back on the couch pulling her with him, sliding his thigh between hers and allowing his hands to explore her body. He started at her hips, and slowly made his way to her bottom, pushing her skirt out of the way to get a good feel.

She moaned and pressed herself against him, and bit his lip gently. She could see him struggle to hold himself together and this amused her. She trailed kissed down his neck and sucked on a sensitive area beneath his jaw line. He pulled her body against him, giving her the opportunity to feel every inch of what exactly she was doing to him. her fingers found the buttons of his soft white dress shirt and undid them slowly kissing down his chest and stomach slowly, tasting his skin with each kiss.

"Are you, I mean...Have you ever.." He stammered, not quite sure how to appropriately ask her such a personal question.

"No, this has all been firsts for me,"

"You mean?"

"Yes, Draco I had never even kissed someone till I awkwardly kissed you the other day..." She blushed. He had an amused smirk on his face which made her attempt to hide her face and pull away from him.

"Don't be ashamed. it's not a bad thing. But I think this should end here," He said sternly.

"Why, afraid of something?

"Yes, hurting you." He gently moved her aside and stood up taking two or three paces away. He pulled his fingers through his messy blonde hair and said, "This cannot keep happening, I can't control myself around you."

"Maybe you shouldn't," she whispered.

He asked her what she said as he hadn't heard her. She stood up finished unbuttoning her shirt unhooked her skirt and let both fall to the floor. "Maybe I don't want you to."

They just about jumped at each other, passionate kisses, his clothes dropping to the ground as well till they were left in just their undergarments. He laid her on the couch where they teased and touched and bit one another.

She should feel ashamed, she shouldn't want this so badly. But all she knew was in these moments with him she couldn't think of anything but him. Her problems fell away; Ginny, the boys, her so-called friends fell away, the WORLD disappeared. She had initially just wanted to feel something other than the misery and loneliness she had been feeling for the last month and a half, the things she felt when she was with him was so powerful, so distinct, and so wrong. But how could something be so wrong when it felt so right?

"Are you ready?"

"A thousand times yes," she moaned.

He pulled down her panties, and dropped his boxers. He rested over her, kissing her breathless and then looking deeply in her eyes, a look she had never seen before crossed his face. She felt him slowly push inside her. A sharp pain flooded her body but as he moved inside her deeper and she felt him grind into her the pain was replaced with the best feeling she had ever experienced in her life. It was like riding a wave of pleasure. The wave getting bigger and bigger over time. Draco possessively caressed every inch of her body, suckling on her breasts, leaving love marks wherever he could. Their hands met and they gripped them tightly. Hermione felt the passion and the waves grow stronger and she looked into his eyes which intensified it all.

"Draco!" She moaned so loudly as she felt them both release and come to climax.

Exhausted, covered in sweat, they lay together, him still inside her for a long time after. She must have drifted to sleep for a short time, and when she woke she half expected him to be gone, but there he lay his face buried in her hair. She turned over on to his side and took the time to study his face. He had a very smooth angular face, his blonde hair was tousled in a very attractive way. He had worry lines, and the lightest of bags under his eyes and she had no doubt his father, and the expectations of his family was what made them come to be.

"Like what you see Granger?"

"A thousand times, yes," She replied.

Chapter 4 – Where do we go from here?

Hermione was starting to get used to things, she was the social outcast with her house, she was spending more and more time with Draco. She was pleasantly surprised that he was well rounded with his knowledge of classical literature and political opinions.

"No! You are taking the entire monologue out of context, don't be so thick!" Draco still had a temper, though he did his very best to control it these days. They were having a heated discussion about Jaques monologe in the Shakespearian play "As You Like It".

"Here me out Malfoy, or are you so big headed that you can't hear me?" Hermione gritted her teeth, he was working on his anger just as much as she was working on her inability to be wrong. "Take it or leave it, alright? Jaques is analyzing the situation himself making comparisons that life is like a stage, that everyone is simplying playing a part temporarily, and then we all die."

"Okay, yes but its deeper then that he is trying to say that we all have very specific roles to play that are integral parts of the story we are all acting out. For example, take one person out of the equation of our "story": Dean. We'd have never gotten to know each other in any way, you'd not have had a falling out with your mates. You'd still be the filthy mud-blood I was raised to hate, and i'd be,"

"A pretencious snobby, prat" she interrupted.

Draco laughed heartily. "that's entirely fair!"

They were in the library again, but instead of tucking away to be unseen, they were openly talking allowing any who were near to see them actually enjoying each others company. Hermione didn't have anyone to worry about offending, and hiding things was what lost her her friends in the start.

"What the bloody hell is this?" Blaise Zambini appeared in front of the pair.

"What does it look like?" Draco raised one brow and leaned back in his seat stretching his arms over his head.

He had told her that morning how he didn't have to answer to any student or teacher, his father might make his life difficult if he were to ever find out about his new friend, but that was it. She had been mildly disappointed he had called her his friend, hoping that they would be more then that, but she understood his hesitation. Everything was so new and it was like walking on thin ice. It wasn't like they were friends for years and dating just made sense. Also snogging and fooling around in hidden places was not exactly the basis of a strong relationship. They hadn't talked about feelings or anything and she was alright with that.

"Looks like instead of taking it out, you are playing in the trash," Blaise scrunched up his nose as if Hermione smelled bad.

"Well it looks to me like the only trash that should be gotten rid of is you," Draco looked not in the slightest affected by the potential loss of Blaise's friendship.

Blaise's eyes widened in shock, he pulled out a chair muttering about being able to get used to Hermione being around.

Hermione was surprised how easily Draco got respect from his peers when he demanded it. She always knew he was a sort of leader to them, but over the next few days she really saw it in action as slowly most of the Slytherin students were becoming more and more friendly with her. She had also noticed the attention she was getting from the Grffindor students, primarily her old friends Harry, Ron and Ginny. She couldn't believe it had been 2 months since any of them had spoken a word to her.

Draco and Hermione left the Great Hall after lunch hand in hand and he practically dragged her towards where the room of requirement had been manifesting for them the past few weeks. They were already kissing before they had even gotten into the room. She grinned against his mouth, kicked the door shut behind them and pushed him on to the couch. She pulled her top off giving him a suggestive smile raising her brow in an unspoken question.

"Wait, come here," He patted the cushion beside himself as he sat up straight trying to regain a bit of composure.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing is exactly wrong, I just think we should talk about a few things,"

Hermione straightened her appearance, pulling on her shirt realizing this was a serious conversation and she couldn't very well have it in her undergarments. He seemed uncomfortable and uneasy so she placed her hand on his arm to try to help him feel safe in what he had to say. Unfortunately it did the opposite and he pulled away from her and stood up beginning to pace the length of the room.

"My father wants me to marry, a pure-blood girl named Astoria." He began. "Obviously not right away, but he wants to me propose."

Hermione's face fell, she knew this would happen one day, she didn't expect it to be so soon before they had even figured out what was between them. She knew he had more to say so she took a deep breath and waited for him to go on.

"When I refused he demanded to know why, but I couldn't answer him. It's not that I'm ashamed, I'm a man now, I can handle him. But Hermione, I cannot throw 'this' out there" He motioned back and forth between them. "Without knowing what 'this' is."

"Draco," Hermione smiled broadly.

"Wait, let me finish. I won't ask you to go through hell with me, I cannot ask you to resign yourself to letting go of the friends you've had the past 6 years either. I care about you too damn much to keep you in the dark when you can shine so brightly." He was speaking so quickly that Hermione couldn't get a word in. "So you know, your friends will eventually forgive you, but if it were known that we were a thing, they may never give you that chance."

Hermione stood quickly and placed a finger on his lips to silence him.

"Then they were never my real friends." Hermione smiled. "I care about you too, Draco."

And then there was no more need for words.

They collapsed in a sweaty blissful heap. Draco played with her hair as Hermione turned to face him.

"So no Pansy?" She asked him.

"Really? I spend every minute I can with you, and when I'm not with you I assure you I'm likely sleeping because, my little minx, you exhausted every bloody inch of my body." She giggled and snuggle closer to him tucking her face into his neck.

"Do you love me?"

He pulled away so he could look into her eyes, "More then I thought possible."

"Me too," She sighed happily pulling him down for a kiss. Hermione noticed the clock over his shoulder. "But we are going to be late!"

The two dressed quickly and practically ran to their classes, not noticing they had accidentally swapped the ties that were fashioned in their house colours. The class went by quickly and after Harry, Ron and Ginny confronted Hermione.

"So look, Dean said you didn't know we were dating when you hit on him, also I may have used a truth potion to force out of him that all the other things he was saying was all lies." Ginny dove right in to clearing up the misunderstanding. "So I'm really sorry for how I treated you, I'm sorry I let everyone take sides, and I'm sorry you had to fall to the Slytherin's so you wouldn't feel completely alone."

"First: I just don't understand why you believed him, Second I only hit on him because last year I fancied myself so in love with your brother that I thought I could make him look at me differently if I was with someone else. And Last but not least: I didn't make friends with the Slytherin students, or Draco for that matter, because of anything that went on between us. They are all really nice actually and Draco's a really decent man, when you take time to get to know him, and when he takes time to get to know you too. And he's not just a friend." She said it all a matter-of-fact, and waited for their responses to be how crazy she was.

"Well that's obvious," Ginny pointed at Hermione's tie, bringing the green colour to the groups attention. Hermione turned bright red.

"But It's Malfoy," Harry protested.

"And I'm Hermione, your bestfriend." Her blush faded quickly, and she stared him down.

"So you're not still in love with me then?" Ron squeaked.

"Ronald, no I'm sorry, I don't think I ever really was." She looked at the red headed boy apologetically.

He breathed a sigh of relief and blurted out, "Lavender and I have been together for 10 months, and well, shes pregnant."

Ginny started yelling at Ron about their mum killing him, Ronald started yelling at her back and Harry and Hermione laughed at the pair of Weasley's. Harry looked at Hermione and said

"I'm sorry I wasn't a better friend. " He paused and looked over Hermione's shoulder quickly."Does he make you happy?"

"More then you know, Harry," Hermione smiled.

"Well that's all that matters then," Harry said simply. "You hurt her and you know I'll kill you." He said very sternly looking over her shoulder again.

Hermione turned around to find Draco standing behind her, an impish grin on his face and his hands in his front pockets of his jeans. "I'd let you do it, too." And he looked entirely serious when he promised that to Harry.

Hermione's face lit up at the sight of him and she ran to him wrapping her arms around his middle. She could see a light pink blush on his pale smooth cheeks as her scratched the back of his neck embarrassed as he pulled playfully on his tie around her neck.

"Oi, get a room, you scamps!" Ronald called from where he was arguing with his baby sister.

"Go buy a crib Weasley!" Everyone laughed as Ronald turned about as red as his ginger hair.

The End


End file.
